Here's our summary of key economic events overnight that affect New Zealand, with news the US is deploying new shakedown tactics on its exporters to give some favoured tech companies tariff and national security export relief - if they pay.
However first, China's vehicle sales were up almost 15% in July from a year ago, following a nearly +14% rise in June. That means they sold 2.6 mln units in July. The sales pace is running far higher in 2025 than the record pace in 2024, but the really large sales months don't come until late in the second half of the year. Sales of new energy vehicles surged 27% year-on-year to more than 1.25 mln units in July, accounting for nearly half of all new car sales and marking the fifth consecutive monthly increase.
Hong Kong listed Chinese property developer, China South City Holdings, has been suspended after a Hong Kong court ordered its winding up. That ends a years-long process of attempting to survive through reorganisation and emphasises how tough the Chinese property development market is still.
In India, there are reports their central bank is in the markets supporting the falling rupee. So far they have spent US$5 bln on the operation to no obvious impact, although it may have helped slow the devaluation.
In the US, the Federal Government is finding new ways to tax. First it was tariffs (import taxes), now it is export taxes. It is extracting 15% from chip sales, starting with exports to China. These shakedown of corporate America come with waiving tariffs or national security export restrictions, giving the company advantages over its rivals. Very Soprano. It is a habit sure to spread, ushering in a period of hyper crony-capitalism - one that may be indistinguishable from capitalism-with-Chinese-characteristics. The Chinese at least are trying to wean themselves off the habit, because it led them nowhere.
Tomorrow, the US will release its CPI data. And after the firing of its agency head last month because Trump didn't like the result, this will draw special scrutiny, especially as tariff costs are increasingly being passed on. The key reaction to watch will be how TIPS bonds are priced (Treasury Inflation Protected Securities). The CPI rate is the basis for these yields and it they are going to be artificially interfered with, investors may sell down this US$2.1 tln bond market corner. If that happens, we will all notice. Markets expect the 2.7% CPI rate in June (the one Trump didn't like) to rise to 2.8%, and the core rate to hit 3% - for the first time in five months and calling an end to the disinflation cycle and the start of re-inflation.
Later today we get the RBA's latest rate decision. It almost certainly will announce a cut of -25 bps to 3.60%. And before that the wide-watched NAB business sentiment survey will be released. It isn't expected to show much change from the modestly positive readings.
And as important as today's announcements will be, don't forget tomorrow CBA will release its annual 2025 results to June. And they are widely expected to be a record exceeding AU$10 bln. It is world-ranked in the mid 40s on an assets basis, but it is one of the worlds most profitable.
The UST 10yr yield is now at 4.26%, down -2 bps from yesterday at this time. The key 2-10 yield curve is marginally flatter at +51 bps. Their 1-5 curve is little-changed at -12 bps. And their 3 mth-10yr curve is still at -9 bps. The Australian 10 year bond yield starts today at 4.26% and unchanged. The China 10 year bond rate is up +1 bp at 1.71%. The NZ Government 10 year bond rate starts today at just under 4.44% and also up +1 bp..
Wall Street hasn't started its week with the good gain weekend futures markets indicated and has actually slipped -0.1% in Monday trade. Overnight European markets were generally lower by about -0.5%, except London which ended up +0.4%. Tokyo ended its Monday session up a strong +1.9%. Hong Kong ended up +0.3% aqnd Shanghai was up +0.3%. Singapore however ended down -0.2%. The ASX200 ended its Monday session up +0.4%. And the NZX50 was up +0.5%.
The price of gold will start today at US$3,354/oz, down -US$44 from yesterday.
American oil prices have firmed +50 USc to be just under US$64/bbl with the international Brent price now at US$66.50/bbl.
The Kiwi dollar is at 59.3 USc and down -20 bps from yesterday. Against the Aussie we are also down -20 bps at 91.1 AUc. Against the euro we are unchanged at 51.1 euro cents. That all means our TWI-5 starts today at just on 67.2, down -10 bps from yesterday.
The bitcoin price started today at US$119,552 and up +0.8% from this time yesterday. Volatility over the past 24 hours has been modest at +/-1.7%.
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77 Comments
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/orewa-familys-property-rates-jump-72-desp…
Says he is trapped just lower the asking price, "nobody die". I'm getting sick of these glass half empty whingers filling headlines.
That's why MSM make articles like that. An angry or scared consumer is more likely to spend to make themselves feel better.
Up next on the news, a benefit fraudster that'll be sure to have you spitting sparks, and an adolescent with help from mum and dad buys their first house and says "anyone can do it"
Hey cynicism! That’s my patch!
Easy on, there is a queue.
We call it the far queue.
Out there somewhere with that Pygmy tribe lost in the tall grass?
Any one at 19 can buy their first house, especially if your Dad owns a supermarket....
Exactly, get better parents silly.
Most of NZ is in this mood... RBNZ needs to cut 50
Thanks guys - that sequence had me chuckling..
:)
Love those.
"I worked double shifts at "Pak N Save" and over two years scraped together half a deposit, with the other half coming from a family gift".
"Unemployed person gets warm new house"
"Electric vehicle in car crash"
"Local council agrees to spend money to upgrade library"
"Person with qualifications and a job can afford things"
It's the same here sadly. Here, here's one of 3 real estate articles today claiming the market is either going up, down, or sideways, for you to be outraged or placated by.
You would have to wonder what sort of psyche is attracted to a “ career” in “journalism” these days. It is bad enough in life generally, to have nothing worthwhile to say, but to have a compulsion to put it in writing suggests a visit to a worthwhile shrink would be worth it.
Well, many say we are in a limbic economy, where everything is in a pursuit of short bursts of dopamine, with little of any lasting value.
Bang on. It seems a skill today to sit back and remove the reactions from things - something the youth grew up without experience given the ubiquitousness of technology and sensationalism in society.
I get called by journos a lot for comments and they're a pretty resilient lot. I like them
No, you don't.
You get called by reporters for comments.
Journalists are meant to do research, try and ascertain truths - that's a far, far higher bar.
https://www.interest.co.nz/opinion/95460/murray-grimwood-aka-interestco…
(aside - note the last para, and the date written...)
I get called by journalists for comments on areas that I am an industry expert to help with stories they are researching.
Fairly said except, articles or columns or even pieces, might have been a better sounding noun than stories
Comments or facts-and-figures?
There's a difference.
The amount of articles about high food prices in NZ that don't mention GST is ridiculous. Of course our supermarkets / butter / etc are going to be more expensive when the government adds a 15% tax that the Aussies and Brits don't add. You can't fix that by more competition / Aldi / etc.
Same goes for petrol. Some places have tolls and cheaper gas, we have the costs for roads (or at least some of them) included in our petrol.
And you will find the administration/legal costs of AUS and Uk gst/vat far outweighs any perceived 'advantage'. Our GST system is a model that their tax agencies and the tax accountants can only aspire to.
Doesn't need ignorant politicians meddling with it for a few votes.
I’d normally agree. But if people are seriously moving to Aus because the cost of living is lower, maybe taking the GST off food is the only viable solution. Of course you end up paying for it in some other way, but people aren’t too smart.
The move to RONs will help too - we can all put a photo on Facebook of a really cheap fuel sign and say NZ is cheaper than Aus, go NZ.
Have a look at the research... makes damn all difference. Compliance cost, especially for small business erode any benefit.
For example If some food became GST-free, a dairy’s sales would be a mix of taxable and non-taxable supplies, meaning it could only claim GST back on expenses like power, transport, and rent in proportion to its taxable sales — creating more admin and thus more cost to consumer.
Overall effect is more bureaucracy to be paid with the extra tax taken - exactly what you don't want from a tax system.
They are quoted has planning to suck it up and pay. But yes, complaining for being tagged as future residential subdivision, with a massive increase in sale value in the near future once Watercare organized themselves, seems pretty poor form. They are Poms though.
Safe bet they don't vote to be caught in Chippys proposed Capital Gains tax. Can't be caught paying tax can we. Does highlight the effectiveness of Rates....aka Land Tax.
There are many rural properties that could be subdivided but are not rated as such....
Still all the Helensville stuff going up 23% is a bit rich. Most of that stuff cannot legally be subdivided. Property values did not go up much. Is it time to put limits on councils ability to increase rates PA?
Most are Labour run.
Ominous news last night in a move that surprised Mayor and local police, Trump put WashingtonDC police under Federal control and is sending in National Guard for seemingly spurious reasons - especially so when he wouldn’t take action during Jan 6 Capitol attack. It concerns me for the implications for 2028 as he said strangely in last election campaign vote this time as no need to vote in future. As he has no respect for the Constitution and the law (there are time limits to this action), my reaction was that he was planning to provoke a situation for the following election. This is unsettling and I hope I’m completely wrong.
Well he may not but most US citizens do, and they are not ready to abandon democracy yet.
Trump is worried as the Dems are probably going to find a credible middle of the road candidate this time around. I do not think JD Vance will cut it against a decent Dem. the Dems are as far left as the greens here, time for them to able to the center and disown many of the hard lefts desires.
The entire worlds problems are not due to cis white males, diverse women got the vote ages ago.
Labour here need to do the same, but MMP has produced a monster.
It stops being left/right; when a society starts to run down, the angst rises from the bottom, up. The trouble is that it is incoherent, and often votes for someone spouting a simple message promising the un-deliverable. That is usually someone from the 'right', but the trend to autocracy is overarching; Hitler, Mussolini, Trump - they're all symptoms of societies under the pump. And it is likely that a massive proportion of the middle order (of middle-order Germans in 1933, for instance) still strongly favour democracy - but they get the vote taken away from them - and it is the only mechanism they have.
What do you do then? Protest? Get silenced. Fight back? Get labelled a 'terrorist organisation'... and then get silenced.
Nutshell job right there. Paul Johnson’s excellent “Modern Times” has a chapter captioned “Waiting for Hitler” which, amongst others, explains too, what a great fermenting pond plight is.
Sometimes I think the US is close to a civil war.... then I look at the UK, and realize how much closer they are.
The US has religion and lots of guns.
And not necessarily in that order either.
Lots of guns can actually provide a degree of safety against the governemnt, its written into the constitution becuase you cannot trust the governement
The founding fathers seemed quite smart
That's from the day when the most powerful weapon the government could have is a musket, or a cannon.
Little bit different when you're up against uranium depleted munitions and laser guided weapons.
Nope, I think he will start imposing curfews and de-facto martial law. At which point he can arrest political opponents for spurious causes ("Out after 10pm, therefore a dissident"), disappear people and essentially run an autocracy. He has basically admitted thats what he wants and his White Christian Nationalist base (who are by and large basically White Supremacists) will openly support this. Just watch this guy who is a classic Trump supporter (He will be my friend, so my family will be fine, but others not so much): https://youtu.be/2S-WJN3L5eo?t=1331
Trump does u-turn on gold tariffs. Question is why the U.S. can’t or won’t tariff gold considering most people see it as anything but a useless pet rock when the US is sanctioning or tariffing oil and lots of other more useful commodities and goods.
Don't expect the mainstream financial media to be asking the hard questions about this.
Haha, yeah in a presidency that's turning international trade and geopolitics on its head, and smoothing over a pedo ring, they should really double down on getting to the bottom of the shiny rock tariff reversal.
Ray Dalio amping up his inner DGM of late and now spooking the sheeple about real estate. He reckons buying and holding real estate is not an effective investment strategy in the current economic environment and suggests:
1. Real estate is more interest rate sensitive than it is inflation sensitive, so given our current circumstances it is likely to go down in real terms
2. Is a fixed asset that is easy to tax, which limits its impacts on your ability to diversify
3, Too illiquid and difficult to move money from one place to another
https://finbold.com/billionaire-ray-dalio-names-one-investment-to-avoid…
It only really works through a couple of lenses: OPM and OPT
Indeed, OPM & OPT
Ray Dalio amping up his inner DGM of late
Uhhh, Ray Dalio hasn't had much positive to say about anything for years. 2-3 years back I couldn't open the Internet without seeing a feed about him giving a final warning. Or was it a final, final warning.
I hear you P. No need to get too concerned. Aotearoa is different. Ray's opinions won't be getting any air in Granny Herald or around water coolers. And most Aotearoans wouldn't know who he was anyway.
Aotearoa is running pretty much the same economic model as everywhere else, so the trends we see will be fairly similar. The only real variable is ability to attract more bodies.
Yes yes. Same same but different. And important to remember Ray is not dumping on the beloved Aotearoa Ponzi.
The whole ponzi/Ashley Church bit got tired a couple of years ago (I still don't know what that person looks like, what they sound like, or read anything they wrote). It adds nothing to any discourse we might have.
The Ponzi is critical for our economic health / vitality and for our entire monetary / banking systems. It's quite important for much discourse, even within the context of what's happening globally.
The irony is your existence is a lot more dependent on it than me.
The irony is your existence is a lot more dependent on it than me.
I don't think there's any irony. The whole nation is dependent on the Ponzi in some form or another. It has wide-reaching implications across all demographics as well as the structure of our economy and political system.
Even in the most powerful economy in the world, nearly 1 out of 2 young adults in North America is living at home with parents. We haven't seen this since the Great Depression. Suggesting that "it's all good here, but bad over there" is quite typical of Aotearoan attitudes to understanding and addressing issues.
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/10/13/home-o09.html
Not everyone is going to know or be interested in everything. Wouldn't be reasonable to expect them to.
The bigger issue is the application of bias in appraising what information you do access. Or seek.
OK. If you don't like Dalio's opinions and views, you can express it openly and you could even deconstruct what he says if you feel it's relevant.
And I do.
And then you end up talking about Ashley Church and ponzis for some reason.
You should learn from Dalio. Not take things at face value.
"Part of the purpose of having a believability-weighted system is to remove emotion from decision making. Crowds get emotional and seek to grab control. That must be prevented."
- Ray Dalio (from his Principles of using believability-weighted decision-making - a system designed to minimize emotional bias, power grabs, and groupthink in collaborative environments)
Just the fiat currency ponzi XD
Trump has signed an executive order preventing tariffs on Chinese goods from taking effect for another 90 days.
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/08/11/trump-china-tariffs-deadline-extended.h…
It is of very little prospect for Trump to meet personally with Putin if Trump does not possess some serious leverage and while at the same time, demonstrating that the levers that he has been applying elsewhere can bend like soft toffee.
It's a great photo opportunity for Trump, and a claim for his much wanted peace Nobel prize.
For Gaza?
Quoted from Michael Hudson...
https://globalsouth.co/2025/08/11/%e2%80%bc%ef%b8%8f-michael-hudson-not…
"Putin started this year’s meetings with Trump by saying that the root of their problems is not Ukraine. Ukraine is only an arena in the fight by NATO (led by the US) against Russia, China, and their BRICS and Global South allies.
To solve the fighting in Ukraine, the expansion of NATO must end. That is what Putin demands.
But there seems to be zero chance of this developing. Even if Trump stops US support of NATO’s war in Ukraine, NATO’s roots in the EU bureaucracy (von der Lehen and KK), Britain under Starmer and MI6, Germany under Merz and the Bundeswehr trying to become the new Wehrmacht, and Macron’s France are acting on their own, almost instinctive hatred of Russia.
So there is little chance of agreement, certainly over Russia’s demand that the West recognize its imminent military victory and ability to create a postwar shrunken Ukraine.
NATO has just intruded into the Caucasus with Azerbaijan and Armenia, with US control of the Zangezur Corridor threatening Iran and also China’s Belt and Road trajectory.
And the US has withdrawn from the last vestiges of atomic arms control, while sending nuclear submarines nearer to Russia in at least a symbolically threatening move.
This reflects the Neocon demand for U.S. unipolar hegemony, preventing any country from having its own sovereignty to act independently of the United States.
So my guess is that at the upcoming meetings, the United States has only one tactic – and it is a tactic that Trump loves for his own psychological purposes:
America has only one thing to offer other countries: the (temporary) promise NOT to hurt them. There’s nothing positive to offer, given its de-industrialization and the world’s de-dollarization. (Has Germany ever begun to get back its gold reserves left on deposit with the New York Fed?)
Trump’s generals (the hardest-liner is now in Kiev) and EU/NATO are urging more and tougher sanctions against Russia, mainly to fall on the EU and BRICS countries."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Why Putin would risk his neck going to Alaska to meet 'Goldfinger' in person is completely beyond me.
If the West manages to bump Putin off*, it will not help them one iota - he would only be replaced by a real hardliner who wouldn't be anywhere near as patient with the hordes of moronic Western warmongers, as Putin has been to date.
This will be their 'golden' opportunity (pun intended) to take him out, as they are closing the Alaskan airspace, meaning they will have a free rein to do whatever they please. They have an endless playbook of tricks that they can pull to murder Putin
Cheers
Col
To solve the fighting in Ukraine, the expansion of NATO must end. That is what Putin demands.
Well, post Soviet Russia (most of which was governed by Putin) hasn't made a great case for its former republics to stick around. And it has a habit of attacking it's neighbours. Do the opposite of what you're doing, and there's not as much motivation to join something like NATO.
If you make unrealistic conditions for peace, you're not really serious about peace.
Your first paragraph is not based on historical reality, Painter.
The vast majority of these disputes are caused by the US, its NATO attack dog and the Western MIC, which thrives on creating enemies and perpetual war.
Your last sentence, I would agree with totally, as long as the warmongering troublemakers are identified as in the brackets ...
"If you make unrealistic conditions for peace [ie US/UK/Israel/NATO], you're not really serious about peace."
Larry Johnston ... 7:30 "Trump and his team believe that this (Ukraine) is a territorial dispute - that this is an argument between Russia and Ukraine over territory - that Russia somehow just needs the territory - that's not it at all, not even close, it has nothing to do with territory."
JudgeNap... "That is the real estate developer mentality of the President and Mr Witkoff."
Larry ..."Yeah, he thinks we can cut a deal where you give up this piece and take that piece - that's not it - this is about NATO expansion to the East - and while Whitkoff is in Moscow trying to cajole Putin into a meeting, at the same time as that is happening, Trump ids preparing the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to Washington for signing a deal, and the reports are that within that deal, kept secret, is the intent to invite them to become members of NATO - the goal of surrounding Russia - the US has not backed away from that goal.
The US is not interested in peaceful coexistence with Russia, and anybody who thinks that that is not the case has just not been paying attention to US actions - I don't judge the words, I judge the actions."
Larry... at 9:50... "Putin is trying to find a way to keep this from becoming a nuclear conflagration - the reason he is now pushing, remember his inititial deadline was 50 days, then it went down to ten or twelve and this urgency to get Witkoff over there to bring Putin for a meeting, well why did he do that? - he did that because the military situation on the ground is worsening much, much quicker for Ukraine than anyone anticipated.
This is a revision of the Minsk II ploy, because back in Jan/Feb 2015 the militas in the Donbass, with support from the Wagner group that was backed by Russia, they were on the verge of defeating the Ukrainian army and Angela Merkel, and Francois Hollande rushed to Moscow and begged Putin stop, stop - we will sign an agreement - this agreement will ensure peace, and that was the beginning of Minsk II and then Merkel later admitted that it was just a ploy - it was a sham - we fooled those stupid Russians, because we wanted to give Ukraine time to build up its military again - that is what Trump is trying to pull off now - he is trying to do a Minsk III.
Putin admitted last year - he had been fooled - he had been naive and trusting. I don't see him making that same mistake again - you know as well as I do that the Trump you talk to one on one, or in person is a completely different charactor to the one that plays this charactor on television - Putin knows that because he has met with him before in a more private setting - and so Putin might be calculating that he might be able to talk some sense into Trump, to prevent this from going where it is headed, which is going to be WW3."
Your first paragraph is not based on historical reality, Painter.
The Russian federation is significantly smaller than the Soviet Union, and Russia has had military incursions since 1990 in neighboring regions.
There's also 3 million Russians who've moved to America, but only a few thousand Americans living in Russia. It would seem they all know something you don't.
I don't really have a problem if you don't like the US, they're clearly problematic. But you don't need to craft an equally misguided view of Russia to substantiate it. It's the same sort of tribal tendency that undermines human coexistence
People's desire for a (temporarily) more affluent world is no indicator of anything - there are those in Cuba who want to spend like Americans, but long-term-maintainability-wise, Cuba's material throughput is far superior. The fact that those with a vested interest in wealth-creation diss their leadership, misses that point.
Funny, Colin does well here - yet he doesn't get the overarching Limits to Growth predicament.
People's desire for a (temporarily) more affluent world is no indicator of anything
It's not just about affluence, it's also about political and personal freedom. There's an unfortunate tendency among Communist dictatorships to be fairly oppressive on their populations. Which stands to reason, if you're promoting a fairly rigid political philosophy, you can't afford much if any deviation from your population.
As for the maintainability, I'd have to agree, although that's less so by design and more by the constraints communism has on an economy.
Funny, Colin does well here - yet he doesn't get the overarching Limits to Growth predicament.
Most of the more motivated posters here are usually singularly focused on a very niche subject or cause. Very little room for external views or information.
Overarching predicaments tend to require more weighting.
:)
They all think theirs is one true predicament though.
Very significant change is required with our nature. It could be via self actualisation, but I'm not feeling confident.
"There's an unfortunate tendency among Communist dictatorships to be fairly oppressive on their populations."
Ummm.... hullo, Pa1nter, wow, you are only 34 years behind the times. Why do you make these statements when you know so very little about Russia?
The Russian Federation officially began on December 25, 1991. This marked the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the emergence of the independent state. The Soviet Union, of which the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) was a part, officially ceased to exist on December 26, 1991, with the Russian Federation becoming the primary successor state.
The Russian Federation is neither "communist" nor a "dictatorship" - It's a bicameral federal semi-presidential republic, with a Federal Assembly (Upper House of 178 seats, unofficially the Senate) as the national legislature. The State Duma (450 seats) is the Lower House.
All bills are first approved by the State Duma and further debated and approved (or rejected) by the Federation Council.
While Russia has state-owned enterprises* and a significant role for the government in the economy, it is not a centrally planned economy. The country has a mixed economy with both private and state-owned sectors.
*[Its central bank is run as a public utility, which is the prinicpal reason why Russia has one of the strongest balance sheets on the planet, with miniscule public debt]
Ummm.... hullo, Pa1nter, wow, you are only 34 years behind the times. Why do you make these statements when you know so very little about Russia?
PDK mentioned Communist Cuba, hence the reference to Soviet Russia - which did indeed collapse under its own weight 3 and a half decades ago, nothing I said precludes that.
Russias leadership doesn't have a lot of variety over the last few centuries outside of some form of authoritarian regime, absolute monarchy, then communist dictatorship, and now this remnant institution. There's not been a political development akin to a liberal democracy as was forming in Western Europe or other parts of the world since the early 1800s. Fairly clearly, more people gravitate in that direction than whatever warm embrace is offered by Russian leadership.
If Russia was that good a lay, more of it's neighbours would be aligning with it, and people the world over would be flocking there.
Has it never crossed your mind as to why the US has ~850 overseas military bases against Russia's 4, Painter?
If the US, UK and Israel would only keep their noses out of other countries' affairs, I doubt very much if Russia would even bother with those 4.
The US military spends more than the next 70 largest countries combined. Their budget comes to more than $1.5 trillion when you include all their activities, NGOs, mercenaries, and Alphabet Agencies.
Russia spends around $160 billion, which is a mere 1/10 of what the US spends. If they didn't have half the Western world trying to rob them of their resources, destabilise Russia and its ex-Soviet neighbours, that number would be far lower too.
How about the fact that the US has been involved in at least one war, often multiple wars, for more than 70 years straight? Have you ever asked why?
Has it never crossed your mind as to why the US has ~850 overseas military bases against Russia's 4, Painter?
Yes. It is a very complex, albeit also circumstantial sequence of events. Multiple old empires imploding. Much of the world ravaged by internal and external conflict. The benefits of geographic isolation.
Although the Soviets had a far more aspirational global footprint back in the day. Remember too, they sat on the other side of America, killing locals in proxy wars. Now Russia can't even offer much in the way of support to Syria and Iran.
How about the fact that the US has been involved in at least one war, often multiple wars, for more than 70 years straight? Have you ever asked why?
Bunch of reasons.
See though how we're back to talking about America, as if that somehow makes the Russians blameless, or maybe even justified in what they're up to on this day in 2025.
In my view, both of them can go to their rooms, no dessert or PlayStation.
"Yes. It is a very complex, albeit also circumstantial sequence of events. Multiple old empires imploding. Much of the world ravaged by internal and external conflict. The benefits of geographic isolation."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There is nothing complex or circumstantial about it, Pa!nter - much of the US economy is based on war - that's why, 90% of the time, they are the common denominator in more than 70 years of perpetual warfare.
It's also why they are continually creating flashpoints with more than 40 countries right at this moment, in a huge arc that encircles both Russia and China, and branching off into Africa as well.
They simply cannot help themselves, and they put the lives of the entire planet at risk in doing so. It is only because of Russia's incredible patience that we haven't already all gone up in smoke.
Their efforts are off the charts right now because they are desperate to destroy the entire BRICS/BRI network of positive egalitarian wealth-creating global initiatives - they realise that this new cooperative bloc is the key to a new global security, trade and financial paradigm and that its huge momentum challenges their hegemony.
There is nothing complex or circumstantial about it, Pa!nter
Afraid there is Colin. There was a huge global power vacuum resultant from WW1 and 2, and America was the most viable candidate for global hegemon, by a country mile. Everyone else was decimated by war, and trying to rebuild political institutions and economies. In basketball they'd call that a lay up shot.
Did they tip things in their favour? Sure. Do they profit from war? Indeed. None of that helps you make a case for Russia, they're just the consolation prize winner in the race for global superpower, who are even less appealing.
Their efforts are off the charts right now because they are desperate to destroy the entire BRICS/BRI network of positive egalitarian wealth-creating global initiatives
None of the BRICS countries are overly egalitarian in themselves (Refer Indian Caste System, CCP preference for Han Chinese/party members, Russian Oligarchic system), it is magical thinking to assume a global BRICS order would be either.
What do you want Israel to do with their nose?
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